Microwhat?

Tech Tip of the Day: So your Word program isn't displaying your emails? Just a blank page? Oh, and PowerPoint just won't let you type your research paper out in full, putting it all in one little square?

Just like your kitchen appliances have their own use(you don't generally cook a casserole by putting it in the refrigerator,) all of the Office applications serve their own purpose.

Word - This is the word processing application. Think of it like a super featured typewriter.

Outlook - This is your email program, for sending and receiving emails, and keeping track of your calendar. It can also connect to RSS feeds and other things. But email is its primary purpose.

Excel - Keeping track of data. Rows and Columns to organize your data. It can use formulas to utilize the data you input to help keep up with your data as well.

Access - Database application, can help you keep track of large amounts of data in a more searchable format. This is generally for more advanced Office Suite users.

PowerPoint - Slideshow style presentation software.

Publisher - Great for making flyers, cards, stationary, etc.

Lync - Instant Messaging and meeting software

Yes there are other Office Applications, but those are the primary ones you will see and use. These applications can and will talk with each other and utilize each others features, but that does not affect their primary use.

Performance Anxiety

Tech Tip of the Day: Something's just not right on your computer. Everything's bogged down, more so than usual. You call the Service Desk and ask for them to take a look at your computer to see what the problem may be. Please put some forethought into this before calling them.

They are most likely going to remote into your computer in order to assess the situation. This means they are going to be looking at what is on your screen. They can see everything you have open....are you following me yet?

There may be a legitimate issue with your computer, but unfortunately the service desk agent will not be able to take this seriously when they open up the session and see Facebook, Pandora, ESPN, Digg, Slashdot, Twitter, Tickld prominently displayed on your screen.

Please close any non-company related websites and programs PRIOR to reporting an issue with your computer, unless of course the issue is that you can't get them to close. Chances are you are violating your company's IT resource usage policy with half of those pages/applications. They are also quite lkely the source of your issue. The longer you keep pages like those open, the more resources they use, the more likely you are to have performance problems.

I have a computer

Tech Tip of the Day: "My computer wasn't working, so I turned it off and back on, and then logged in." Based on this explanation of your issue, I deduce that you want a cookie. Now why'd you call? The bakery's down the street.

A statement of what you have done doesn't necessarily translate to telling us what the issue is or what you need from us. If you were having problems, rebooted and they went away, that's great! If you'd like us to take a quick look to be sure everything's ok...that's what we need to know, please ask.

"I downloaded something on my computer."
"I dropped my laptop."
"I changed my password last week."
"There was a paper jam, and I pulled the paper out."

All of these are just statements of fact...please elaborate. Without context, they don't describe any issue at all, and you don't want an IT guy to use his imagination to fill in that giant hole in your story...we all have very odd senses of humor.

My home computer runs much faster than this!

Tech Tip of the Day: That pesky computer of yours in the office is so SLOW! You can only run 12 excel sheets, 43 tabs in internet explorer, iTunes, and our main database application on it at once. My home computer runs so much faster!

People tend to discount the fact that your work PC has a much higher utilization footprint than your standard home computer used primarily for internet use and keeping track of your pictures. Your work PC generally is running:

• an enterprise antivirus with real time scanning on all newly created or modified files
• disk encryption constantly encrypting and decrypting your hard drive
• your office's messaging application
• database connections going across the network
• whatever other applications and connections you have to network resources

All of these take a much larger toll on your computer's resources than your home antivirus does. Also, unless you have a specialized job that requires a beefy computer for graphical media, design applications, or the like...your PC's hardware isn't top of the line.

Computers for business use use components that are made for lower power consumption, that create less heat, and generally are very much in the mid range when it comes to speed. The business gets computers that they can use reliably for a few years at an acceptable cost. As you move into higher end computers the prices go up at a more rapid pace. Your company is buying 200 of these...you bought one for your house, you could afford to splurge a little for the extra RAM, bigger hard drive, faster processor, larger display, etc.

There's more than one

Tech Tip of the Day: SharePoint is a wonderful tool, but it can be HUGE as an organization begins to increase its utilization. Asking for "SharePoint" is about like asking for a "soft drink" at a gas station. They can give you access to a random SharePoint site, but it may be an R.C. Cola when you wanted a Ski(Greatest Carbonated beverage EVER).

There may be 3,000 individual SharePoint sites in your organization, you really will need to be specific. If you can get the URL(that http://blah.blah.blah thing) from another user, that's perfect! It would also be a good idea to ask your supervisor who gives access, as the site owner/administrator may be sitting across from you and you may not need to go through IT at all.

Which one?

Tech Tip of the Day: "My password's not working." If you are in a larger organization, I guarantee this is not enough information to correctly resolve your issue. If you are in a smaller organization...it's still probably not enough information. Nearly every business out there at this point utilizes multiple systems with password security.

Because a lot of programmers are generally lazy and do not want to have to figure out adding LDAP authentication(using your domain credentials) to their program, you have a separate password for a lot of separate apps.

When you need a password reset, please be specific about what you are trying to access so that your IT professional can reset the correct password. This will include you knowing what the name of the program or service you are trying to access actually is. Otherwise, the wrong password may get reset, for another application, which will cause you to have to change that one, as well as the one you originally called about.

Help us, help you.

Slightly related note, your IT guy cannot reset your outside gmail/hotmail/facebook/yahoo/etc account...

Are you having a dance party?

Tech Tip of the Day: Say your IT guy answers the phone, what would you like him to hear?

A) The pertinent information to help address your issue(i.e. who you are, where you are, what your issue is)
B) Your ten closest coworkers and the 80's hair band you have playing over Pandora
C) The traffic from the interstate right outside your open window
D) The industrial wood chipper you somehow fit into your office

Speakerphones are wonderful tools...when used appropriately. A one-on-one conversation in an open area, is not the definition of appropriate. Very few speakerphones are high enough quality to truly cancel out background noise and keep voice quality at a decent level. Those that are, are very expensive, and are generally used in conference rooms.

Conference rooms ARE an appropriate venue for a speakerphone. As is the quiet confines of a decently insulated office, with the doors and windows closed. If you work in a cubicle, open area, or outside, no one can understand you. Please get off the speakerphone, pick up the receiver, and have a genuinely more pleasant telephone experience.